To celebrate its tenth year anniversary, Cabrinha Kites recently organised special press meeting in Tarifa at the Dos Mares Hotel over three days to launch its 2010 product line and Cabrinha France invited a lucky Hanglos.fr Admin there (Since I am looking after hanglos.net too, I thought I would let you know what happened there too ).

This event was the opportunity for the to meet the whole Cabrinha team including Pete Cabrinha, Susi Mai, Andre Philip, David Hastilow, Alberto Rondina, Cameron Dietrich and Jesse Richman but also to learn more about the Cabrinha brand philosophy and more about Pete Cabrinha vision of the sports whilst meeting other medias.

Piloo (on the left) with Rou Charter (Iksurfmag) and Hugo B (Kitesurf Mag)

Day 1:
After all, we were at a press meeting so the first day started with a presentation from Pete Cabrinha and Mike Raper (Commercial Director).
This presentation was the opportunity to come back on the development of the sport and the brand. For those of you who have not been kitesurfing for long, Pete Cabrinha has been kitesurfing ever since the sport started and started to sell its own kiteboard from 1998 before starting Cabrinha Kites in partnership with Neil Pryde in 2000.

Then Pete presented us all the 2010 product range and then talk to us about the brand projects and initiative.
As part of the “Year of the Rider”, Cabrinha is launching the Youth Empire community to push young riders. Youth Empire websites will be launched in many countries and will be look after directly by young riders. The initiative comes as a result of the work that Cabrinha UK did with the British Kite Surfing Association in 2008 where Dan Sweeney was selected after a week long Junior Bpoot Camp organised by the BKSA for young competitors.

In the afternoon, as the wind picked up, we had the opportunity to go riding the different kites and board and talk with the riders to learn more about the product as well as exchanging our thought on the products.


Being a Pro Rider also mean carrying lots of boards and pumping lots of kites!

Life in Tarifa being hard, we rode until 9pm and then had a quick shower before going to dinner to celebrate Cabrinha Kite tenth anniversary.


Day 2:
This day was the opportunity to score a bit more time on the water with the 2010 Cabrinha kites and boards. But before that we all met by the hotel pool to talk with Pete about the new equipments and to give him feedback.

As the wind started to pick up in the afternoon, we all went back on the water. By the end afternoon as the Levente was kicking in we even had a little demo from Jesse Richman and Alberto Rondina showing us what it takes to be a pro rider!


Day 3:
The last day was the opportunity to talk with everybody and fly back home early for the unlucky one like me. So there was no air time to be score, but the opportunity to exchange email addresses with a few riders from Cabrinha but also other pro riders living in Tarifa!


Finally, here is a quick overview of the 2010 Cabrinha product range and my first thoughts. This is not intended to be a review as I did not have the opportunity to ride the boards/kites in different conditions.

Kites:
This year Cabrinha has 4 kites models coming with a brand new IDS bar. Those kites will suit a wide range of rider from zero to hero.
The IDS bar is really comfy and see the landing line being internalised in a separated chamber next to the depower rope. The chicken loop is still the same with a pivoting donkey dick for riders who like to unhook.


- Nomad IDS: The kite is an Hybrid aimed at the freestyle and wave riders who like to have a fast kite with a light bar pressure and two different bridles setting.
- Crossbow IDS: The racing kite of the year in my opinion!, this year the Crossbow IDS is still a bow kite and is the perfect weapon if you want to go fast and tack upwind all day long and jump high.

- Switchblade IDS: The tractor, this is the ideal kite for the rider into wakstyle and who does all his tricks unhooked. The kite is really predictable and the bar pressure is good enough for you to feel the kite when popping around.
- Convert IDS: This hybrid is perfect for people progressing, but also freeriders and waveriders. The bar pressure make you feel the strength of the kite and will make it a perfect all rounder for many riders.


Boards:
Like last year, Cabrinha Kites has a big range of board to suit everybody purse and style! With 10 models available you will find the weapon(s) you need to have the time of your life whenever there is wind.
For 2010, the Cabrinha Sync Backless Binding sees a few modifications to be more resistant and is still as comfortable. The good news is also that it now come in two sizes. Small and Large.
On the eco friendly side, in order to reduce packaging waste, Cabrinha is now shipping all its board (Except the Rival) in a single board bag that you will be able to use over and over again of course.

- Caliber: the ideal board for freestyle and big air with a Paulownia wood core with a quad concave at the bottom as used by Jesses Richman and Alberto Rondina. The board as a really nice grip on the water and make edging a pleasure!
- Dre Signature Model: The Custom becomes Dre pro model this year. With a nice rocker, this is the board you need to put your bindings on and hit sliders with.
- Prodigy: The all round freeride board that will make you have fun in every condition. The board is also great for freestyle.
- Plasma: This is Cabrinha Light wind board. Unfortunately, Tarifa is a windy place so I have not ridden it. But the designs are really cool.
- Rival: The Rival is the ideal board for those on a small budget and learning to kitesurf.

- S-Quad: Quad fins surf board that can be ridden with or without strap
- S-Killit: Egg surf board perfect for marginal conditions and having fun in the light wind.
- Thruster: The name says it all! The board is great and goes really fast. The board can also be used as a surf board, so it is two in one really.
- Wakeskate: I have not seen it.
- Nugget: The board of the year that we gonna see everywhere really soon! High volume strapeless board that can be ridden in both directions. You can have the time of your life in the swell and in the flat water doing wakeskate style if you want to.

For more info about the 2010 Cabrinha product range visit www.cabrinhakites.com